Sunday, December 03, 2006

Chaos Reigns in the Football World; Week Fifteen BlogPoll

If you're the type of Ohio State fan that I am, you spent yesterday afternoon cheering for USC. It hurt, it was like cheering for the bad guy in movies, but you did it anyway, because you did not want to see a rematch with Michigan. You've already seen Ohio State-Michigan, you know the outcome. So why do it again? Plus, Michigan not making it to the National Championship game would make Michigan fans unhappy, and that's a nice bonus.

But as you no doubt already suspected, Pete Carroll is incapable of doing anything that makes Buckeyes fans happy. The man always wins, except when we actually want him to win. In a fashion that should have been predictable, the Trojans lost to UCLA, taking them out of the national title picture.

As a result, the battle for number two in the BCS rankings comes down to Michigan and Florida. We, as Ohio State fans, are left with a similar question we had back before USC lost: do we support Michigan, a fellow Big Ten school and the second best team in the country, or Florida, a very good team in their own right who has the added benefit of not having already lost to the Buckeyes?

I've decided that I'm indifferent. I believe that Michigan is the second best team in the country, and I think they'd beat Florida by at least a touchdown. But that feeling's balanced by not wanting to see a rematch of the last game OSU and Michigan played. It's that same sentiment you've heard: Michigan had their chance, and lost. Let someone else get a shot.

But by the stated goal of the BCS system, to put the two best teams in the championship game, I think Florida should be left out. They are fresh off an SEC championship game that pitted a team whose best quarterback is a running back (Arkansas) against a team whose best running back is a quarterback (Florida). Okay, I may be exaggerating things a bit, but the point I want to make is that two offenses that aren't paragons of quality and execution were enough to get their teams to the SEC championship. Michigan, possessing both an effective quarterback and a real live talented running back, gets the nod from me in terms of offense. Defenses are a push, both in my mind and statistically. Michigan is, I think, the better team, and should get the nod from that standpoint.

But, as I said, I also don't want to see a rematch. So, whatever the BCS system decides, either outcome will be equally acceptable to me.

With all that said, let's move on to the early draft of my BlogPoll ballot:

Rank

Team

Delta

1

Ohio State

--

2

Michigan

1

3

Florida

1

4

Southern Cal

2

5

LSU

--

6

Wisconsin

--

7

Louisville

1

8

Oklahoma

2

9

Auburn

--

10

Boise State

1

11

California

2

12

Notre Dame

2

13

West Virginia

2

14

Arkansas

2

15

Rutgers

8

16

Virginia Tech

--

17

Wake Forest

2

18

Texas

1

19

Tennessee

1

20

Penn State

1

21

Nebraska

3

22

Brigham Young

--

23

Oregon State

--

24

Texas A&M

1

25

Central Michigan

1

Dropped Out: Georgia Tech (#24).

Notes

Not a lot of games this week, so not a ton of significant movement.

Michigan, as I said, gets my vote for second best team in the country.

I'm not sure I punished USC enough for their loss, but it was a close loss in a rivalry game, and I'd still take them to beat all those teams ranked below them.

Arkansas doesn't drop much because my opinion of them doesn't really change with the outcome of the SEC championship game. Rutgers drops a lot with their loss mostly because I had them above Louisville, but with the loss to West Virginia, I decided to drop them below the Mountaineers. Plus I think this is a more accurate placement for them.

About The 614

The 614 (the site, not the area code) is run by Sean Sheehan, an Ohio State alum. In his spare time, Sean enjoys watching Ohio State football, talking about Ohio State football, thinking about Ohio State football, and watching Ohio State basketball and wondering when football season begins.